ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: China is considering Pakistan’s request to help it build eight more nuclear power plants at a cost of $8 billion aimed at generating 4,800 megawatts of electricity by 2015.

Informed sources told Dawn on Thursday that the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) had started planning to build Chashma-3 and Chashma-4, each with a capacity of 300mw, following a broad understanding reached recently between the two countries.

China believes Pakistan is adhering to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) standards and as such needs to be supported in its efforts to meet its electricity requirements of 8,800mw by 2025.

Besides, China has said that it will provide suppliers’ credit for the proposed reactors. However, it wants Pakistan to address the international concerns about non-proliferation.

“The Chinese have told us that they fully support Pakistan’s quest for peaceful use of nuclear energy and will continue to extend cooperation to build nuclear power plants,” a source said.

China said it wanted to assist Pakistan in line with the “agreement in peaceful uses of nuclear energy” earlier reached between the two countries.

China has assured Pakistan that it will transfer after some time ‘all possible’ nuclear technology to help build indigenous nuclear power plants.